Fan fiction:The Life Beyond
This is a little Longtail based story I've whipped up :) Enjoy! ~Splashpelt Prologue Crack! The heart-wrenching sound of the breaking of the tree poured over the flooded camp. Longtail heard it the most, though. It shot through his ears like a roll of thunder, giving him only a heartbeat to glance up at the tree falling right on top of him. “Longtail! No!” Longtail shot a glance to a small brown she-cat to the right of him. Her eyes shook with fear and anxiety. “Longtail, we hav-” She was cut off. The tree’s roots fell on top of the ground, causing the rest of the tree to plant itself right on top of Longtail. A sharp, overwhelming pain swept through Longtail’s spine. He grunted loudly as he realized the tree was on top of his back. He felt blood trickle down his chin softly, and he felt his heart beating faster then ever. This was it. Longtail thought. Him, and the she-cat whom was Briarpaw, would die right underneath this tree. Longtail took a gasp and heard his lungs shudder. He was dying slowly. “Longtail..” Whispered an all-too-familiar voice into his ear. “S-Swiftpaw?” Longtail rasped, looking at a ghostly cat in front of him. “Have you come to get me?” The black and white apprentice smiled . “I thought we might look back on what turned you into what you are.” Longtail squinted his eyes, puzzled. “What I am? What am I?” He rasped quieter. Swiftpaw brought his former mentor’s spirit up with a brush from his starry tail. “Come.” Longtail’s spirit rose from the discarded body, and followed Swiftpaw through a flashing and swirling world around him. Swiftpaw brought Longtail to the patrol where he lost his eyesight. “Watch, and think.” He instructed soothingly, bringing his own attention to the patrol Longtail led many seasons ago. “We’re hunting rabbit here.” He snapped to Cloudtail, who was trying to get the pale tabby to hunt squirrel. “WindClan is hostile, they’re very protective over their rabbits. The rabbits themselves are running low on food, I say we follow Cloudtail’s idea.” Added in Thornclaw. Longtail turned to him abruptly. Thornclaw’s apprentice, Sootpaw, was by his heels. “I’m older then you, I know more then you. I know more then all of you. You guys can go hunt squirrels in the forest, But I’ll bring home some rabbits. Rabbits will feed the Clan!” Longtail hissed to his patrol before pelting off into the fields. “Swiftpaw… How could I be so foolish..” Said the present Longtail, sighing as he overlooked his past actions. The past Longtail stalked a nearby rabbit with burning pride. “I’ll show them.” He murmured to himself, getting in position to pounce on the easy prey. The starry Longtail quivered as if he recalled the pain of the claws running through his eyes, even though he’d hadn’t witnessed it yet. Longtail pounced on the rabbit, placing his paws on it’s chest. He didn’t nip it’s neck like he’d been trained to do. Instead, being full of pride, Longtail called out to his patrol. “Look guys, I caught it!” In a heartbeat, the rabbit wriggled free and pounced onto Longtail’s face. Longtail shrieked. The ghostly Longtail recalled in real life the pain of the claws, and the overwhelming shock of the thought of loosing his eyesight. “Help!” Screamed Longtail as the rabbit ran away, leaving his eyes scratched and bleeding onto the plains. “I’m coming, Longtail!” Thornclaw meowed, sprinting over to his friend. Sootpaw ran after him, followed by Cloudtail. “Forgive me, guys.. Y-you were r-right.” Longtail whimpered sadly. Thornclaw hushed him. “Don’t ask. You’re going to be completely fine. Trust me..” He said, with a hint of regret. Swiftpaw rested his tail on Longtail’s spirit. “I know what I did wrong…” Longtail murmured. The patrol supporting Longtail brushed past the duo of ghost cats. “Hey guys, I’m rig-” Swiftpaw placed his tail over the spirit of Longtail’s mouth. “They can’t hear you.” Longtail sighed and watch as they drug his past away, back to camp to begin his blind life. “Let’s go back even further. Back to when I was alive.” Swiftpaw instructed, leading Longtail through the spinning and blurry world. Longtail gulped softly and followed his apprentice through the blurred world he once saw. Swiftpaw stopped at a clearing in the forest. “Watch.” He whispered, crouching down to observe a younger Longtail with a new nick in his ear that was still bleeding, a large brown tabby tom with a few scars on his pelt, muzzle and thigh, and a black tabby tom with handsome silver stripes. “Darkstripe… and Tigerstar!” Swiftpaw smiled at the sound of his past mentor’s recognition. “Yes, of course he was Tigerclaw then.” Longtail’s smile faded as he crouched down to observe the meeting between the three cats. “How could you let a kitty pet beat you!” Hissed Tigerclaw to the young Longtail. “I was just made a warrior not too long ago… I-” “That’s no excuse, Longtail.” Darkstripe growled deeply. “It was an easy match. A young kitty pet against a brilliant warrior.” Longtail flattened his ears. “Well it doesn’t matter! He’s an apprentice now anyways!” Tigerclaw flattened his ears as well. “I noticed. Also, with Redtail out of the way, Bluestar is bound to pick me as the next deputy. Once she’s thru, I’ll be leader. And that kitty pet will be the first one to get out of this camp.” He said with sharp pride in his tone. Darkstripe gave a simple nod. “Sounds excellent.” “What? You can’t kill Bluestar!” Longtail stammered. “She’s our leader!” Tigerclaw stared at him ruefully. “So? She’s a pathetic leader. I’ll be a much better one.” Longtail’s eyes flickered from side to side, worried on what he gotten himself into. “You’re one of us now, Longtail. Do you want to leave? Do you want to leave the safety of the true warriors?” Tigerclaw asked with a devilish smile painted on his face. Longtail looked at his paws, which quivered on the earth. “I’ll stay.” He muttered. Darkstripe purred. “Great, we can finally rule the forest like it should be ruled!” Tigerclaw smiled. “Yes! We should get back to camp before anyone notices we’re gone.” Longtail stared into Tigerclaw’s amber eyes. “And to see who Bluestar picks as deputy.” Tigerclaw and Darkstripe stood almost at the same time, Longtail following close behind. “Let’s go, then.” Tigerclaw meowed, brushing past the distant Longtail and Swiftpaw watching silently. “I could tell how much you wanted to leave them.” Swiftpaw meowed, his glowing amber eyes looking at Longtail. The pale tabby looked ahead. “I know…” “You were young, and wanted to be safe. I could tell.” Swiftpaw added, standing. “Let’s get to StarClan, I think you’ve had it with me now.” Longtail let out a purr. “Awesome! StarClan! I get to see everyone I knew in the past!” Longtail stood. “I know I can’t see Tigerstar.. Is Darkstripe there?” Longtail asked Swiftpaw curiously. “I’m afraid not. He walks with Tigerstar and Brokenstar now.” Longtail nodded understandingly. “That’s too bad. Let’s go.” He meowed as he followed Swiftpaw down a starry path as the forest began to fade into blackness. Chapter 1 Longtail blinked his eyes, only to find a faint blue glow coming from them. "How come my eyes aren't glowing as much as yours, Swiftpaw?" He asked curiously. Swiftpaw tilted his head. "The more you're here, the more your eyes glow. Also, your pupils shrink more as you stay here." Longtail nodded. "Which reminds me, you should see Star! Her pupils are all the way gone, and her eyes glow like crazy!" Longtail chuckled. "I'll do that later. Where does ThunderClan stay up here?" Swiftpaw began to walk, giving Longtail a signal to follow. "We used to all live together. Leaders got caves, deputies got burrows and medicine cats got willow trees. Now, we are all split up throughout StarClan territory. We have a current leader, which is the newest leader to join the ranks, a current deputy and current medicine cat. All the leaders, deputies and medicine cats get caves, burrows or willow trees still, but we just have territories. Sometimes we'll visit RiverClan since they aren't that hostile, but for-" Longtail cut off Swiftpaw. "Where do we sleep?" Swiftpaw got his words back on track. "We just find pre-made nests or make our own." Longtail nodded understandingly. "Our current leader is Bluestar, and our current deputy is Whitestorm. Along with our medicine cat being Yellowfang, by the way." Longtail blinked. "What about Cinderpelt? She was there after Yellowfang." Swiftpaw paused and looked at his paws while he walked. "Well.. you see... Cinderheart is Cinderpelt. StarClan wanted to give Cinderpelt her destiny she always wanted, so we reincarnated her." Longtail was puzzled, but nodded in agreement nonetheless. "Will she come here as Cinderheart or Cinderpelt?" Swiftpaw shrugged. "I dunno. You'll have to ask Star." Longtail and Swiftpaw arrived at the heart of ThunderClan territory. The first leader of ThunderClan, Thunder, sat talking with Halftail by the leader's rock. He nodded to Longtail. "Welcome to StarClan's ThunderClan." Longtail nodded politely back. "Can I go see my mother? And my father?" Swiftpaw chuckled. "Why of course! You don't have to hang out with me the whole time you're up here! Go on ahead." Longtail smiled and ran over to Thunder. "Do you know where Robinwing is?" Longtail meowed. "I believe she's by the river. Just go straight that way." With a wave of his starry tail, Thunder showed Longtail a direction to go in. "Keep walking till you see the river. She's with Patchpelt, Brindleface, Whitestorm and Fuzzypelt." Longtail nodded and ran to the direction Thunder pointed out. To be written. Category:Deceased Character Category:Fan fiction